Recent relevant updates to Office 365
Hallo <<First Name>>.
I hope this email finds you well, and that you are able to enjoy some holidays (be it summer or winter where you live).
As for the relevant updates that have come to Office 365 since the last newsletter there have been many for Teams (4 updates), with only one other (1 for Yammer).
And, by the way, when I say "relevant" updates I refer to the updates that affect your productivity scenarios. And one subscriber has actually asked me what these productivity scenarios are and I plan to include some information about these in the next newsletter.
So until then.
//Magnus
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Teams Updates
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Teams #1: Turn your post into an "Announcement"
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Are you going to create a new discussion thread in a channel and you want it to stand out from the other posts? Since a few weeks you can change the post type to "Announcement" by first selecting the format command down to the left and then the "Announcement" function up on the left (see the image above). The functionality of the Announcement type might not be so fantastic in itself (you can add a headline and have a background to this headline) but I hope it will be expanded with functionalities in the coming months (e.g. having the announcement to stay at the top of the conversations tab). I'll keep you posted on any updates.
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Teams #2: Additional smileys for reactions on posts
It is now possible to use more smileys for a post than just the thumbs up.
By when do you dare to give a colleague your first "heart" smiley...? ;-)
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Teams #3: Automatic archiving of Teams that you do not use
Since a few weeks Teams is taking action on its own to hide the Teams that you haven't used for a while (45 days to be exact) from your direct sight.
You will shown the message above and you will be able to visit the hidden Teams by opening up the "More" section at the bottom.
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Teams #4: Channel notification settings
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It is now possible for you to specify per channel how you want to receive your notifications for new posts and announcements. You can choose between "banner and feed", "only feed" or not at all).
This update helps you to be more granular on what is important for you at this particular moment. It is still possible to go to "Settings" for the whole Teams app and alter how you want to receive your notifications, but it will be for all channels and you still need to "follow" the specific channels you want to be notified on for new posts.
If you are being mentioned in a channel you will of course still receive a notification even if you haven't followed the channel or set the notification settings.
You find the settings when you open up the ellipses (...) for a specific channel.
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Yammer updates
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Yammer #1: Mark your post as a question
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In Yammer, the social network within Office 365, it is now possible to mark your posts as questions. This makes it much more structured to capture the knowledge in the organization, as much of the knowledge development is done through questions (e.g. questions on the employee policies, how things are done around here, etc.).
It is also possible to mark the best answer, making it easier for the person who is interested in the question. And the group owners will be able to filter the group for unanswered questions, to take action.
If you are part of Management, you can for example use this feature for carrying out virtual Town hall events where it will be possible for everybody to differentiate between content and apply filters to see all questions and unanswered questions before, during, and after the event. So if you have your staff in different locations you might want to try out running a virtual town hall meeting.
Does this sound interesting to you? You can read more on the use of this feature at this blog post by Microsoft.
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What is coming up?
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There are several interesting functions coming up for Office 365, and I'd like to give a heads-up for the following ones:
- It will possible to do more with the files in Teams, that you have had to go to SharePoint for (version history, sync, trigger workflows, and more)
- You will be able to make it possible for your colleagues to find your private Team and apply for membership
- And in the private chats you will be able to receive read receipts (like in Messenger and WhatsApp).
Hopefully I will be able to include these features in next month's newsletter.
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Our FB community
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If you have questions related to any of these changes and how they affect the scenarios for productive work in Office 365, you are welcome to join our community on Facebook.
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In the community we explore and investigate together the best ways to use Office 365 for a productive and fulfilling work life.
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